China has signalled a shift in its approach to Africa by co-financing a fund worth $2bn (£1.19bn) over 10 years with the African Development Bank (AfDB), following a backlash against the hard bargains it drives when dealing directly with governments.

The Africa Growing Together Fund (AGTF) will be jointly backed by the People's Bank of China and AfDB to support "sovereign and non-sovereign guaranteed development projects" totalling $200m (£119m) annually, officials said.

The decision to create a multilateral fund comes after accusations that China tends to strike one-sided agreements in Africa that include cheap loans in exchange for mining rights or construction contracts. "China's relationship with the continent is entering a new and much more sceptical phase," wrote Howard French, author of China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa, in the New York Times last week.

The joint fund is expected to begin financing projects before the end of the year. It follows Chinese premier Li Keqiang's first tour of Africa earlier this month.

AfDB president Donald Kaberuka, who signed the deal during its annual general meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, said the fund "marks an important milestone in the longstanding relationship between China and the AfDB group in particular and Africa in general".

In what some may interpret as an attempt to reassure China's critics, Kaberuka insisted that "the AGTF will operate within the strategic framework, policies and procedures of the AfDB, including its integrated safeguards, thereby leveraging on the AfDB's strengths".

He added: "China is a friend of Africa: they invest in infrastructure, in natural resources. Now this is the first time I believe in Africa, we are taking mainly a multilateral route ... and they have done it because they want to assist in the development of Africa."

Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, said: "We believe that for the next two decades we are going to see a strong growth ... and people here are going to raise their living standards substantially. China would like to be a part of this development."

According to official Chinese data, the country has been Africa's biggest trading partner for five consecutive years since 2009 and an important source for new investments. But growing doubts have been raised over whether China is persuading governments to part with natural resources for knock-down prices with little benefit for the average citizen in countries such as Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ali Bongo Ondimba, president of oil-rich Gabon, denied that his country was being exploited. "We have an excellent relationship with China, and I've travelled almost a dozen times to China," he said on Friday at the New York Forum Africa conference in Libreville.

"China is one of the largest investors in Gabon. We have a solid relationship with the Chinese. They know what they want and we know what they want, so therefore we do not have any problem. We are in a situation where we do not depend on China; we also have partners from other countries."

He added: "It's not a threat for us because again the Chinese understand what we want and they respect the laws here in Gabon. They have been good partners for us."

Last week a report produced jointly by the AfDB, OECD and UN Development Programme showed that Africa is set to see economic growth of 4.8% this year and further expansion to 5.7% in 2015.

Li, addressing the African Union in Ethiopia, praised the continent's growing economic power, and vowed to double trade to $400bn (£238bn) by 2020.

But Kaberuka told the meeting in Kigali last week: "I have stopped counting the Africa Rising conferences I have been to. Whose Africa is rising? You cannot eat economic growth."